Baseball Earns Split With NAC Leading St. Joseph's (ME)
BASEBALL EARNS SPLIT WITH ST. JOSEPH'S (ME) IN NAC DOUBLEHEADER
HOLYOKE, MA, April 22, 2007 - Elms College junior catcher Nate Hawes (New Hope, MN) went 3 for 4 with six RBI, including a three-run home run in the fourth inning and the Blazers plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to rally for a 10-8 come-from-behind victory over St. Joseph's College (ME) in the second game of Sunday's North Atlantic Conference (NAC) baseball doubleheader at MacKenzie Stadium.
Elms College, which lost game one 6-2, split all three of its NAC doubleheaders this past week and improved to 6-16-1 overall, 3-5 NAC.
St. Joseph's (23-5, 7-1 NAC), which was ranked fourth in last week's New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Poll, had won 10 of 13 coming into Sunday's doubleheader. The Monks' loss in the nightcap was just their third in 38 conference games dating back to 2004.
St. Joseph's appeared well on its way to a sweep after it plated three runs in the second inning and five more in the third to build an 8-4 lead.
In the fourth, however, Elms College began its rally when Hawes blasted a three-run homer - his team-leading third of the year - to deep left field to cut the Blazers' deficit to 8-7.
The Blazers then completed their comeback in the sixth on a
game-tying RBI single by freshman right fielder Mike Scott
(Clinton, CT), a sacrifice bunt by junior first baseman
Scott Netkovick (South Hadley, MA) on a suicide
squeeze, and a RBI sacrifice foul-out by sophomore center fielder
Nick Mackowiak (Dudley, MA).
Freshman pitcher Sean Bergeron (Chicopee, MA) pitched two innings of no-hit relief en route to his second win of the season.
Bergeron, who threw a three-hit shutout in the Blazers' 3-0 win over Becker on Wednesday, struck out one and walked two in Sunday's victory over St. Joseph's.
In game one, Bergeron belted a RBI double and junior catcher Joe Sawa (Chicopee, MA) added a RBI single up the middle to help the Blazers jump out to a 2-0 first inning lead.
St. Joseph's senior third baseman Mark Clapp (Blue Hill, ME) delivered a RBI groundout in the fourth to cut the Blazers' lead to 2-1.
The Monks then erupted for five runs in the fifth, including three unearned, to take the lead for good.
From there, senior starting pitcher Ben Cutter (Westbrook, ME) did the rest, as he allowed just two hits over the final three innings en route to his complete-game victory. Cutter struck out six and yielded just two earned runs on five hits.
St. Joseph's sophomore right fielder Wade Oliver (Owls Head, ME) went a combined 4 for 6 in the two games, including a 3 for 4 effort with three singles in game one.
Elms College freshman pitcher James Kosiorek (Springfield, MA) was solid in the losing effort in game one. Kosiorek allowed just two earned runs on six hits in 4.0 innings.
Freshman pitcher Matt Josefs (Newington, CT) was
also solid for the Blazers, as he allowed no runs in a combined 3.1
innings of relief in the two games, including 2.1 innings of
three-hit relief in the game two's victory.
Elms College returns to non-conference play when it hosts Newbury College on Wednesday, April 25. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at MacKenzie Stadium.